Amana now offers a Divided Light Door router bit set especially for making glass panel doors for furniture and cabinets. Amana Tool no.55360 creates true divided light doors using real mortise-and-tenon joinery. The set is easy to use, too. The first bit shapes the decorative profile and rabbet; the second bit cuts the tenon and matching cope. Both bits are carbide-tipped for long tool life and feature Amana quality throughout.

A quick and inexpensive solution is to line the wood surfaces with nylon tape. It is a low friction tape that is designed especially for reducing the friction on wooden drawers.

You can find the tape in woodworking hardware catalogs and in many home and building supply stores. It has a self adhesive back; just cut it to length and apply it to the wood runner or lower edge of the drawer side.

The InStile & Rail door making bit sets have stacking cutters and shims so that you can fine-tune the groove for an exact fit with the plywood that you're using for the door panel. No more rattling door panels!

When stacking the cutters on the shank it is important to stagger them so that the carbide teeth do not touch. So even though each carbide tooth measures 0.140" wide, the groove (with just the cutters and no shims) will be 0.196", or 3/16". This works because the teeth on the two cutters overlap.

Our new Tambour Bit Set has several advantages over traditional tambours: there's no need for cloth or wires, the tambours simply slide together during assembly. And as you have pointed out, the back of the tambour is as attractive as the front.

We wanted the new set to be versatile so that woodworkers could use it on everything from rolltop desks to kitchen appliance garages. The tambour that you make with our set will easily turn a 3-1/2" radius.

The tambour can easily slide through a groove with a radius of 3-1/2" and slides in a groove 9/16" wide.

View Tambour Illustration

Oak is very dense and the grain is coarse which can make it difficult to work. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Cut the profiles on the ends first--using this method allows you to shape away minor splintering along the edge.
2. Mill the stock slightly oversized in width--after shaping the ends you can rip the stock to final width to remove splintering
3. Attach a backing board to the miter gauge--the backing board will help to minimize splintering on the trailing edge.
4. When shaping the edges use several light passes--light passes will usually minimize tearout.
5. Try reducing the feed rate--this also lightens the cut, just don't go so slow that you create a glazed or burned surface.

If this does not solve the problem please let us know.

E-Z Dial slot cutter. Like the Amana Mission Style door bits the E-Z Dial allows you to adjust the groove to fit undersized plywood. After cutting the miters, (for super-smooth miters try the Amana Tool MS10600 miter saw blade) cut grooves for splines on the corners as well as grooves for the panel. Next, use your planer and a jig to bevel the faces of the stock before assembly.

See Illustration

To make a simple door for a medicine cabinet you can use the Amana Tool slot cutter #53308-1. This tool cuts a 3/16" wide slot; you can control the depth of the slot with the position of the fence on the router table. Use two passes of the slot cutter to cut the tenons on the ends of the rails stock. Then adjust the height to cut a groove for the mirror. 

Deep mortise-and-tenon joinery will add to the strength of a cabinet door by increasing the glue surface area. To cut the mortises
use plunge router and Amana Tool straight plunge bit no.45414.

My favorite method for cutting tenons is with a tablesaw and Amana's stacking dado head #658030. Another option is to cut the tenon with a router table and mortising router bit no.45505. With either method, I use the miter gauge to guide the stock along with the fence to control the tenon length.

When constructing a door with mortise-and-tenon joinery you have a number of different design options. For example, you can choose to shape a decorative "sticking" profile along the inside edges of the door frame. The sticking can be cut with any number of profile bits such as Amana Tool no.49510 corner rounding router bit or no.54170 beading router bit. Where the profiles intersect in the corners of the frame I cut a miter on the stiles and rails with the tablesaw. Mitering the profile also allows you to use profiles that cannot be coped, such as the bead in the photo.

Of course you can also omit the sticking for a simple Mission Style door.

To cut the panel groove first decide what type of panel and panel material that you'll be using. Amana has a number of different raised panel profiles such as no.54119 and 54117. To cut the 1/4" frame groove for the panel you can use Amana Tool no.53210.

The Amana E-Z Dial Slot Cutter no.55500 will allow you to cut an undersized groove for a plywood door panel. Most plywood is undersized and the E-Z Dial adjusts in increments of .004" so you can achieve a perfect fit.

View Illustration - Door With Mitered Sticking
View Illustration - Mission Style Mortise and Tenon

You'll get a cleaner cut with a router bit and using several light passes.  I suggest Amana Tool Mission Style Cabinet Door Set no.55438. This stile-&-rail bit set will give you the simple Shaker look that you're after.

For the first cut, position the fence on the router table so that the router bit lightly scores the wood surface. Because hickory is such a tough, elastic wood you may want to take 3 or four passes to eliminate the possibility of tearout. 

To construct a Mission Style door with glass panes I suggest that you use a mortise-and-tenon joint at each corner for strength. I've provided a drawing of a sample door and here are the steps:

1. Layout and cut 1/4" mortises on the stiles to accept the rails. Center the tenon on the thickness of the stock.

2. Use the Amana Tool dado head no.658030 to cut tenons on the ends of the rails and mullions. The tenon shoulders are offset 1/4" for the glass
rabbet.

3. Use the Amana Tool no.49360 Superabbet to cut a 1/4" by 1/2" rabbet along
the inside edges of the stock.

4. Assemble the door.

View illustration

Shaping or routing end grain is always a greater challenge than long grain because end grain fibers are tough and can easily tear out. My solution is always to increase the cutter RPM (don't exceed the maximum rpm of 12,000) and reduce the feed rate. If tearout still occurs I score the field of the panel first at the tablesaw. This will cut the end grain cleanly and eliminate the tearout.

Cope-and-stick bits allow you to quickly and easily make stile-and-rail doors for furniture and cabinets. There are two basic types, reversible and two-piece.

Reversible bits are an economical choice because you only need one bit to cut both the "cope" and the matching "stick". However, reversible bits require that you disassemble the bit and re-arrange the parts on the shank for the second cut. Also, the decorative "sticking" profiles on reversible bits are limited to symmetrical shapes that can be inverted to create both series of cuts. Reversible bits are not less precise than other types, they just require time to rearrange the parts.

As the name implies, two piece cope-and-stick sets come with two bits; one bit cuts the cope on the ends of the rails, the matching bit cuts the decorative "sticking" profile while simultaneously cutting a groove for the panel. Two-piece bits cost more but they're more convenient because you don't have to stop and rearrange the bit. They're also available in a wider choice of profiles.

Amana has developed a unique style of cope-and-stick set which works with the undersized plywood that is so common today. The new Instile & Rail System™ cope and stick bits use shims which allow you to adjust the groove width to the thickness of the plywood. Instile and Rail bits solve the annoying problem of panel rattle when using plywood door panels.

Cope-and-stick bits allow you to quickly and easily make stile-and-rail doors for furniture and cabinets. There are two basic types, reversible and two-piece.

Reversible bits are an economical choice because you only need one bit to cut both the "cope" and the matching "stick". However, reversible bits require that you disassemble the bit and re-arrange the parts on the shank for the second cut. Also, the decorative "sticking" profiles on reversible bits are limited to symmetrical shapes that can be inverted to create both series of cuts. Reversible bits are not less precise than other types, they just require time to rearrange the parts.

As the name implies, two piece cope-and-stick sets come with two bits; one bit cuts the cope on the ends of the rails, the matching bit cuts the decorative "sticking" profile while simultaneously cutting a groove for the panel. Two-piece bits cost more but they're more convenient because you don't have to stop and rearrange the bit. They're also available in a wider choice of profiles.

Amana has developed a unique style of cope-and-stick set which works with the undersized plywood that is so common today. The new Instile & Rail System™ cope and stick bits use shims which allow you to adjust the groove width to the thickness of the plywood. Instile and Rail bits solve the annoying problem of panel rattle when using plywood door panels.